Noblesix: Eileen Baird
by DuRiechstSoGut98
Summary: Just a Gears/Reach crossover one-shot that's been running through my head lately. Baird marries a SPARTAN III that had come to Sera to help them rebuild, only to leave him to fight her own monsters on her home turf.


She said she'd only be gone a few weeks, maybe a few months. It's been one year, three months and sixteen days . A guy couldn't help but count when his wife was away saving another planet that apparently needed more saving than Sera. "They need more help than us Damon." She'd always say. "We have a sliver of a chance to rebuild. They won't." He fought with her to stay, that it was too dangerous and he needed her here. She constantly fought with him that she wasn't born here and she was needed on Reach whether he liked it or not. Damon Baird actually cried when she was preparing to leave. His wife always told him that she was from Reach, was some part of SPARTAN III program bullshit. He never actually believed her until the ship came and took her away. They called her "Noble-six" like she didn't even have a name. He fucking hated those bastards. The only reason he stopped fighting to keep her home was that she promised him that she'd give him all kinds of blueprints and parts to make things better for Sera.

"She's due home today, Corporal." Colonel Hoffman said from behind him.

"How would you know?"

"Message came in. It was patchy, that was all we got."

The UNSC were a crafty bunch. They set up some kind of communications network, but they couldn't keep it going all the time and refused to let Damon tamper with it. Some kind of fine or jail time if he even looked at it the wrong way. Fuckers didn't even realize he could probably make it work eventually. His gut churned when he thought about his wife again. She had left her precious SPARTAN III program to help the Serans rebuild their world. She didn't understand what it was like to fight grubs, but she did fight her own monsters. She was everything Damon wasn't: Cute, energetic and born with the need to help. She never told him how she found out about Sera or what had happened, but he was happy she was in his life. Sometimes he hated her optimistic outlook on life, but it secretly made him happy that she could see the good in a world of shit like this. He turned his attention to the assault derrick that needed maintenance badly. A leaking head gasket, a bad muffler and a wheel bearing that needed to be replaced. He sighed and grabbed his wrench and wheeled himself under to start the work. He couldn't work very well today; for some reason his wedding day played in his mind like an old movie.

"Damon Baird: the biggest pain in the ass, the whiniest bitch on Sera, and the love of my life." He could hear her say. "Take this ring as a sign of my love for you. It will never falter; it will never die." He stared down at his finger. It was caked with grime, but he could still see the band that was made out of spent shell casings, melted down just for him. He couldn't remember what his vows were, but it didn't matter. He loved her far more than any simple word could express. He pulled his goggles down getting ready to weld, but a hand grabbed his ankle and rolled him out from under his private haven.

"I can hear the Pelican." It was Dom Santiago. "She's home, Baird."

On the way to the landing pad, Damon argued with himself about which three words were more important to him. "She's home, Baird." Or the day she left when she whispered, "I love you." Marcus Fenix handed him a pair of binoculars and when he looked out of the horizon he could barely the Pelican drop ship coming into view. He really, really hoped she had managed to snatch a blueprint for one of those. They seemed more effective and efficient than a King Raven.

"Do you think she brought home any blueprints for you like she promised?"

"I sure hope so." He replied, tapping his foot.

It was an agonizing hour and a half before the Pelican gently landed on the small hill outside Pelruan. Almost every COG citizen and Gear was out to see her. Everyone knew who she was; she was the girl with the strange armor who was wasting her time with someone like Damon. He remembered the night at the bar in town when someone drunkenly walked up to her and berated her for being with him. He was nothing but negative energy, he said. She 'ought to have been with someone more positive like himself. She laughed it off until he set one his grimy little paws on her thigh. Damon had scraped his seat back, ready to punch the guy out, but she had beaten him to the punch. Literally. She broke his nose and kicked him in the ribs.

"Damon Baird is the love of my fucking life." She screamed. "Don't any of you scumbags forget it."

The bay door of the Pelican had opened and Damon had shut his eyes, imagining what she was going to look like. She probably lost some weight and gained a lot of muscle. She would be holding her helmet in her hand, waving to him as the sun reflected off her bright turquoise armor. She would run into his arms and kiss him a million times. A hand gripped his shoulders and he opened his eyes to see Dom.

"Baird…I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"About what? What are you—"

He saw what he was talking about. A stranger in green armor like hers carried her out of the ship. Her gorgeous turquoise armor was barely recognizable; it was covered in dings, dents, scratches and burns. She was limp in the man's arms. She never moved when the man brought her to him.

"She was a good woman." The man whispered. "My name is Jun and I knew your wife. She was ambushed by Sangheili Zealots. She sacrificed herself to save _The Pillar of Autumn_ and its crew and cargo. Your wife's sacrifice saved _humanity_."

"Eileen…" Baird choked.

Her head lolled back to face him, and he could see a single shot straight through her visor. She couldn't have survived, but he wanted to see for himself. He took off her helmet and sucked in a sharp breath. Her once beautiful face was melted; her gorgeous black hair was caked with dried blood. Jun set her down and took a few steps back. Damon picked up her head and held her in his arms, sobbing soundlessly. Marcus bent down and put his arm around his shoulders. Eileen Baird was gone. Damon screamed at himself for never listening to her. She told him of a dream she had where Reach would be burned to the ground and there would be no survivors; no one left to tell the tale.

"You were there." Damon screamed. "You were close enough to retrieve her body. What the fuck stopped you from helping her?"

"She told me not to. She begged me to get away with Dr. Halsey and leave her. I tried to help but she was overwhelmed."

Damon didn't give a fuck who Dr. Halsey was, she could die for all he cared. His anger melted back into sorrow as he clutched Eileen to his chest, hoping that somehow she would wake up and tell him everything would be fine. She would tell him it was some kind of sick joke and she was really okay. She wasn't waking up. Her skin was ghostly white and her lips weren't a rosy pink anymore. Jun slipped her helmet back on, but the setting sun shone through the hole in her helmet, illuminating where her eyes would normally be.

Sure, she was a hero on Reach but here on Sera, she was a god damned fool who ran away from him for a lost cause.


End file.
